


Keep You At My Back

by minnabird



Series: Ignite 'verse [4]
Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Developing Friendships, F/M, Freedom Fighters, One Shot Collection, Order 66 Didn't Happen (Star Wars), Podfic Welcome, Rescue Missions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:13:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28184454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minnabird/pseuds/minnabird
Summary: “Couple of my men got captured.” He looked her over with new eyes. Civilian clothes, which didn’t mean anything, but she’d gone for a blaster, not a lightsaber. “You’re not a Jedi. Why did you come after me?”“You’re in Free Systems space,” Hera said. “We intercepted your distress call. Come on, let’s get moving, before they realize those two are missing.”A series of vignettes: Hera and Kanan (still Caleb), in a galaxy where the Empire never rose but there's still work to do.
Relationships: Kanan Jarrus & Hera Syndulla, Kanan Jarrus & Mixx (Star Wars), Kanan Jarrus/Hera Syndulla
Series: Ignite 'verse [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1582570
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	1. First Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caleb Dume is in need of rescue, and Hera Syndulla wants to know what he's doing here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This vignette was written for Kanera Week 2020 for the prompt "rescue missions." They're in an existing universe, but can be read on their own. For a little more on the universe, see end notes.

**7969 (C.R.C. Date)**

“You’re the Jedi?”

Caleb blinked and squinted until the owner of the voice came into focus. Green. Twi’lek? Twi’lek, a young woman in a no-nonsense jumpsuit. She turned to look over her shoulder, then slipped into the room and let the door shut behind her.

She bent to start undoing his restraints. “Are you lucid? Can you hear me?” 

“I’m fine,” Caleb said. “I think I passed out.” He flexed his feet against the floor once they were free. When she released his arms, she had to catch him as he sagged against her. “Maybe not so fine,” he mumbled.

“Okay, we’re getting you out of here,” she said, pulling his arm over her shoulders.

An astromech beeped chidingly at them when they emerged from the cell. “Relax, Chop, nothing happened,” the woman said, and Caleb relaxed. By the end of the first corridor, Caleb’s legs had stopped feeling like they were made of rubber. About half a second after he realized this, a pair of B1 battle droids rounded the corner. The woman shoved him into the wall, then drew a blaster and fired on them.

“Damn,” Caleb said admiringly as the second droid collapsed at his feet. He crouched down and tugged the droid’s blaster free. He looked up at the woman who had rescued him. “You—”

“It’s Hera,” she said.

“Hera. You got a way off of here?”

“I’ve got a plan,” Hera said.

“Great. Use it and get out of here; I’ve got unfinished business. Are the rest of the holding cells back that way?”

Hera reached out and caught his elbow. “Wait. You were trying to rescue someone else?”

“Couple of my men got captured.” He looked her over with new eyes. Civilian clothes, which didn’t mean anything, but she’d gone for a blaster, not a lightsaber. “You’re not a Jedi. Why did you come after me?”

“You’re in Free Systems space,” Hera said. “We intercepted your distress call. Come on, let’s get moving, before they realize those two are missing.” She turned and ran in the opposite direction from where she had been leading him. Deeper into the cell block.

 _Never look a gift ally in the teeth_ , Caleb thought, and followed.

A few minutes later, Caleb found himself squashed into a small space with the astromech while the droid worked on an access panel. Finally, the hum of the ventilation fans cut off. Caleb reached out a hand and wrenched the vent cover aside with the Force, then leapt up into the opening. “Thanks, Chop,” Caleb said, and just heard the droid blatting rudely back as he started down the shaft on hands and knees.

Slatted vent covers let him look down into the cells below. Most were empty. When he finally saw a familiar face, he whistled low. “Mixx, it’s me.”

Mixx was long past startling at finding Jedi in unexpected places. He just tilted his head back and squinted up at the vent. “Hey, kid. Any chance you could get the door open?”

“I’ll do you one better. And we’ve talked about the kid thing.”

“You talked. Doesn’t mean I listened.”

“Cheek and insubordination,” Caleb muttered, and Mixx laughed. He backed up along the ventilation shaft, regretting his lost lightsaber. He closed his eyes, breathed deep, and concentrated. The ceiling of the cells wasn’t made of one solid piece, but many panels bolted together. He reached out, feeling each bolt, and the ones he needed began to turn slowly. They squeaked, faintly, until finally…

_Plink._

_Plink, plink, plink—_

A section of Mixx’s ceiling fell in. Caleb caught it just before it hit the ground, and set it gently against the wall. He crawled to the edge of the hole and reached down. “Come on.” He hauled Mixx up, grunting a little at his weight. “One more,” Caleb said.

“Can you do one more? You look a little…”

Caleb waved him off. “I have to. I can rest when we’re all off of this ship.” He gathered himself, then leapt across the gap to the next section of the shaft. Mixx followed, and Caleb reached back to assist his leap with the Force.

Sweat beaded at his temples, trickled down his neck. His legs were beginning to put up protests again. He ignored them. He just had to get through this next bit. Finally, they found Blowback stretched out on the floor of his cell.

“Okay down there?” Caleb called.

Blowback’s eyes popped open. “Oh, thank the stars. I thought we were really done for this time.”

The second time was much harder than the first. Unscrewing screws with the Force was much more delicate work than Caleb usually did, and it ate into his already flagging strength. Together, he and Mixx got Blowback up into the shaft. As they turned back the way they had come, Caleb swayed and caught himself on the wall.

“Uh, boss?” Blowback said, alarmed.

“I’ve got him,” Mixx said, and Caleb felt Mixx shove his shoulders under his body. “Where we headed?”

“Back that way. Down the hatch. There’s an astromech droid and a Twi’lek woman…Hera…”

“I’ll get us there,” Mixx said.

The next thing Caleb was aware of was a hard mattress and the bottom of another bunk close overhead. The hum of the ship around him had a different sound, the louder, more intimate noise of a small craft. And he definitely knew the snore coming from the bunk above his.

He left Blowback sleeping and stumbled out into the rest of the ship. The galley wasn’t far off, and he was pleasantly surprised to find a familiar face there. “Hera,” Caleb said.

She looked up from her tea. “Hey, there. You okay? Your friends said you probably just needed rest.”

“Yeah, I think they were right,” Caleb said, rubbing the back of his head. “Overdid it, after whatever they put in my system.” He leaned against the back of the booth. “Thanks. For, uh, getting us out of there.”

“Don’t worry about it. You did us a favor, letting us know about that ship.” Caleb almost pushed off the booth to leave, but Hera’s eyes caught his. “Sit,” she invited.

He moved around the booth and settled across from her, folding his arms on the table. It was nice to have a chance to really look at her, not just assess her. She was nice to look at: lovely green eyes, a decisive mouth. “You’re staring,” she said, and he blinked.

“Sorry,” he said. “Must still be tired.”

The corner of her mouth quirked, but she didn’t push it. “You don’t look like a Jedi,” she said. “Don’t have the lightsaber, either.”

Caleb made a face. “Not my best mission. Not my best series of missions,” he said. “I’d rather be out a lightsaber than two men, though. Mixx did get out, too, right?”

“They’re both fine,” Hera said. “You do missions in Free Systems territory often?” Her tone was casual, but there was steel behind those eyes. Caleb tensed. The question of Jedi jurisdiction in the Free Systems was fraught; half of them still belonged to the Republic, and the other half had decided to go fully independent.

“I’m after Separatist holdouts,” Caleb said. “I’d say we’re on the same side here.”

“If you wanna chase Separatists in our space, you work with us,” Hera said. She rapped her knuckles on the table, then stood, leaving with her tea.

 _She’s younger than me,_ Caleb thought, dazed, _but she talks like she expects her orders to be followed. Even if it’s a Jedi she’s ordering around._

“I’m okay with that,” he called after her, his mouth working much too slow.

She paused in the doorway, her lekku swaying behind her. “Good choice.” He caught a flicker of a smile, and then she was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is set in the same universe as the Leia fics in this series, but can be read alone perfectly well. Basically, the Republic did not fall the year the Skywalker twins were born; instead, Palpatine was exposed as a Sith lord and died, and the resulting chaos meant the Clone Wars lasted eight more years and shook out a little differently. There's some CIS territory left after the treaty up in the Galactic Northeast, along the Hydian Way and Perlemian Trade Route somewhere past Mandalore and Roche.
> 
> [C.R.C.](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/C.R.C.) is a dating system I've chosen to go with since obviously the Battle of Yavin and the founding of the Empire aren't benchmarks that exist here. 7969 is equivalent to 8 BBY. This is mostly so I don't lose track of timelines on these.


	2. Eyes On You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hera has big plans, and Caleb's in over his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This vignette was written for Kanera Week 2020, for the prompt "Show of Support"

**7970-7971 (C.R.C. date)**

The Senate dome buzzed like a hive as the many representatives of Republic worlds chatted and made their leisurely way to their repulsorpods. It looked like every session Caleb had ever attended. Most of them, he had to admit, had been with a class of initiates or at Master Billaba’s side. He hadn’t been inside the dome in several years.

But Caleb knew how important this session was to Hera.

* * *

Hera’s finger traced along hyperlanes, disturbing the hologram like a stone tossed into a pond. “It started up here,” she said. “Kashyyyk, Saleucami, Boz Pity, Boonta.”

“I remember hearing about Boonta,” Caleb said, leaning forward to look. “The slave uprising, while the Hutts were busy trying to take Saleucami.”

“Tighten your grasp one place, weaken it in another,” Hera said. “They got greedy, or maybe the Shadow Collective convinced them it was the smart play, and Boonta…Boonta’s coup became legend.”

“A legend you listened to?” Caleb asked. “You don’t talk like someone who was there.” The room was dark but for the hologram; it made it easier to ask questions, to feel she might give answers. Caleb was greedy for answers, when it came to Hera.

She just hummed in response, more thoughtful than anything. “Once I was old enough they’d take me, I knew what I had to do,” she said. “It’s far from Ryloth, but I could see the possibilities. I can still see them.” 

Caleb’s eyes followed her finger down along spidery lanes, from Kashyyyk through the Mid-Rim to their destination. Daalang. “There used to be a Separatist base here, right?”

“Yes, but that’s not why we’re going. It fell into the control of a particularly repulsive Hutt, but if we do our jobs right, we can help the local resistance push them out.”

A shiver went through Caleb, and he wasn’t sure if it was a good or a bad one. Just that the Force was telling him this moment was important. “Hera, my assignment isn’t…”

Just like that, the warm easiness of the conversation evaporated. Hera sat bolt upright, her expression steely. “You came to us looking for what was left of the Shadow Collective? If you play your cards right, you’ll pick up your trail here. Like I said: if you want to chase Separatists in our space, you work with us.”

* * *

Caleb slipped into the Jedi Order’s pod, taking a moment in the shadows to straighten his hair and ensure his cream-colored tunic lay flat against his chest, just a peek of green showing at his neck. When he stepped up to join the other Jedi, he knew no one would blink at his appearance.

The other knight in the pod gave him a startled look, though, and he gave her a wink in return.

He knew now why Daalang was so important. Not just another chip taken out of Hutt Space, but a step towards the lesser-known Hutt strongholds in Ryloth’s neighborhood. 

* * *

Daalang’s capital was a jewel-bright city spread out across a river valley. When Caleb had first seen it from the air, fire was eating through one of the outer districts. Now, Caleb stood at the heart of it, crouched atop a building with a squad of resistance fighters. 

At the far end of the square stood Mottell the Hutt’s tower. Already, the evacuation was underway: a series of explosions had reduced the upper levels of the tower to rubble. The rest groaned ominously. By now, Mottell would be realizing that his underground escape routes were cut off.

The front doors opened, and a procession of armored guards stepped out. The people standing with Caleb shifted as a large shape darkened the doorway. Caleb held up a hand, something nagging at the back of his mind, then his eyes widened as realization hit him. “Get down!” he roared, pulling two of his people down with him as the world erupted into chaos.

The shape was not Mottell. They had wheeled out an antivehicle cannon and opened fire.

Caleb flung his senses out, an unnamed panic gaining a name as he realized he could feel Hera, alive and angry on top of one of the other buildings. On his own, the cannon’s first blast had eaten away a chunk of the roof, taking one of Caleb’s squad with it. It continued its barrage, spraying deadly chunks of rubble.

“Down into the alley,” Caleb yelled. He spared just enough attention to be sure they got moving, and then he was running forward, towards the cannonfire.

* * *

Among thousands of pods, it took some looking to find the right pod. Once he’d located it, though, he spotted her immediately.

Caleb slipped his comlink from his pocket and called up a familiar frequency. He didn’t place a call; just sent a series of pings, _long short long short_. A signal they had used to let each other know, _I have eyes on you_. 

She reached for her hip, then looked up, clearly searching the crowd. Moments later, the comlink in his hand buzzed: _long short long short_. 

Leaning forward against the rail, Caleb folded his hands in front of his mouth. It didn’t hide the goofy smile there.

* * *

It felt like from the time they landed on Daalang to the time they left a little over two weeks later, they never got a full night’s sleep. There was always something to interrupt it, or work to be done late, or watches to take. 

After Mottell’s death, and the tumult of victory celebrations, Caleb and Hera stumbled up the ramp of Hera’s ship. Exhausted but too wired still for sleep, they ended up in the galley. They collapsed on the same side of the booth laughing and talking about nothing in particular.

Which was how Caleb woke from a light doze to find himself drooping over onto Hera’s shoulder. 

“Go to bed,” Hera said.

With a lazy salute, Caleb hauled himself upright. 

It was the exhaustion. It was absolutely the exhaustion that made him say it, and maybe a little the high of having done some good together. “You could come with me,” he said.

She looked him up and down, and the single raised eyebrow said more than any number of words. “Ask me again when you’re awake enough to take me on a date,” she advised.

* * *

Caleb listened to Daalang’s petition for entry, because he was here partly to see this through. But when deliberations ended for the day, he didn’t stick around to talk about it. He hurried through the corridors that wound around the convocation chamber, counting pod numbers until he reached the one he wanted.

He skidded to a halt outside and reminded himself that while it was perfectly fine to feel nervous, he had to look like a Jedi representative right now. He stepped slowly into the pod, stopping to bow to Senator Yarua, the sponsor for Daalang’s petition. The Wookiee rumbled a pleasant greeting in return, and Caleb joined the circle of delegates.

Hera was deep in conversation with Daalang’s contingent. He watched her face, captivated by the intelligence and enthusiasm that animated it. He left her to it for the moment, offering congratulations and an interested ear to those he stood with. After a few minutes, a familiar shape appeared in his peripheral vision.

“Hera,” he said.

“Caleb.” 

He turned, and his stomach took flight. She had tilted her head up to smile right into his eyes, all warmth and shared excitement. It took him a moment to find his tongue. “Congratulations,” he said.

Hera wrapped her hand around his elbow, squeezing it briefly. “I’m glad you came. Come say hello.”


End file.
